[08/16/11 - 10:49 AM]Basic Cable's Top Two Scripted Series - "The Closer" and "Rizzoli & Isles" - Continue TNT's Tremendous Success Last WeekTurner spins the numbers for the week of August 8-14.

[via press release from Turner]

TNT

TNT's summer originals continued their tremendous success last week, led by basic cable's top two scripted series: The Closer and Rizzoli & Isles. Last Monday's episode of The Closer scored 8.1 million viewers in Live + 3 delivery, with 2.2 million adults 18-49 and 2.9 million adults 25-54. Rizzoli & Isles built on that success with 8.5 million viewers, 2.4 million adults 18-49 and 3.1 million adults 25-54 in Live + 3.

TNT's summer originals continue to deliver significant growth in time-shifted viewing. The July 25 episode of The Closer scored 8.1 million viewers in Live + 7, while the same night's episode of Rizzoli & Isles grew to more than 8.6 million viewers. Meanwhile, the July 31 episode of Leverage rose to 4.8 million viewers in Live + 7, and the Aug. 7 season finale of Falling Skies has grown to 7 million viewers in Live + 3 delivery.

In other ratings news, last Tuesday's episode of Memphis Beat wrangled 4.2 million viewers in Live + 3 delivery, including 1.1 million adults 18-49 and 1.4 million adults 25-54. HawthoRNe followed with 3 million viewers in Live + 3, including 1 million adults 18-49 and 1.3 million adults 25-54.

Adult Swim

Adult Swim's original series Childrens Hospital (Thursday, 12 a.m.) ranked #1 last week in its time period among adults 18-34.

Adult Swim overall ranked #1 for Total Day Delivery of adults 18-34 and 18-49, and men 18-34 and 18-49. Earning respectable growth across its targeted demos vs. the same time period last year, adults 18-34 average delivery (524,000) grew by 6%, men 18-34 (303,000) by 4%, adults 18-49 (728,000) by 7% and men 18-49 (402,000) by 2%.

Adult Swim programming accounted for 22 of the top 50 telecasts for the week on basic cable among adults 18-34, and 27 of the top 50 among men 18-34 - both more than any other network.

Cartoon Network

Cartoon Network earned solid delivery gains - ranging between 6% and 27% - across the second week of August 2011, both in Early Evening (7-9 p.m.) and Total Day (6 a.m.-9 p.m.) performance. Compared to the same time period last year, average kids 6-11 evening delivery (585,000) grew by 24%, kids 2-11 (802,000) by 6% and kids 9-14 (422,000) by 27%. Similarly, total day kids 6-11 (470,000) grew by 15% and kids 9-14 (337,000) by 27%.

Monday night (7-9 p.m.) continued its streak as TV's #1 channel destination for boys 6-11, 2-11 and 9-14, earning mostly double-digit gains vs. last year across kids and boy demos, ranging between 8% and 42%. Animated comedy series The Amazing World of Gumball (7:30 p.m.), Adventure Time (8 p.m.), Regular Show (8:15 p.m.) and MAD (8:30 & 8:45 p.m.) each ranked #1 in their respective timeslots among all key boy demos, scoring mostly double-digit gains among kids and boys. Johnny Test also ranked #1 at 7 p.m. among all boy demos.

Tuesday night (7-9 p.m.) also posted double-digit delivery gains across the board (kids and boys demos), ranging between 24% and 57%. The biggest winners among the line-up include The Looney Tunes Show (8 p.m.), with delivery gains ranging between 31% and 66%, and The Amazing World of Gumball (8:30 p.m.), with delivery gains between 32% and 72%, each vs. the same time period last years.

truTV's newest hit, South Beach Tow, drew 1.4 million viewers Wednesday night and scored its best delivery of adults 18-49 (845,000) to date, beating the show's July 20 premiere by 10% in the demo. The show's delivery of men 18-49 (451,000) outperformed the series premiere by 3%. South Beach Tow ranked among cable's Top 5 programs in its timeslot with adults 18-49.

Hardcore Pawn scored big again on Tuesday night, averaging more than 1.5 million viewers in the 9-10 p.m. hour and garnering outstanding time-period growth across the board. Storage Hunters followed with 1.1 million viewers and double-digit time-period growth among adults 18-34 and men 18-34.

Long-running hit Operation Repo continues to deliver the goods, averaging 1.5 million viewers and ranking among cable's Top 5 programs in its Wednesday 9 p.m. timeslot with adults 18-34, adults 18-49, men 18-34 and men 18-49.

World's Dumbest... snared 1.1 million viewers Thursday at 9 p.m. and garnered Top 5 cable rankings for its timeslot with adults 18-49 and men 18-49.